EXPLANATION GAMES

Loose the duck

Name used in other European regions:

Name of the person who explained the game: Ester Rodríguez Esteve, from Riba-roja d'Ebre (14)

Number of players: Individually

Ideal place to do it: River Ebre or Riba-Roja pond.

Material: People in charge of releasing the ducks go in a canoe.

Explanation:
The organizers release the ducks in the river. Meanwhile, anyone who wants, can swim in the river to catch a duck. In the old times, people kept the ducks to fatten them up to eat. Nowadays, they are usually set free on the river again, this fact has allowed the rebirth of these animals in the area.

In the last few years watermelons and melons are thrown into the river.

It's a game traditionally played in the major fiestas of Flix and Riba-Roja in August.

Explanation of the same game in other European regions:

Photograph/picture

Skittles

Name used in other European regions: Quilles (France)

Name of the person who explained the game: Mónica Cervelló Arán, from Riba-roja d'Ebre (13 years old)

Number of players: You can play individually or compete in pairs.

Ideal place to play it: A flat piece of ground of a minimum of 12 metres.

Material: You need 6 wooden skittles.

Explanation:
One game consists of 9 throws per player, divided into 3 throws. In each throw you can knock down 3 skittles.

Put the skittles in 2 rows of 3 columns, parallel to each other, separated by 7.5 cm I the low part.

The throwing distance is 11 metres and a half for men and 9.5 for women.

The main objective is to knock the skittles down, that is to say, knock down 3 out of 5 skittles. The throws are scored as follows:

• No skittles down 0 points
• One skittle down 1 point
• Two skittles down 2 points
• Three skittles down 3 points
• Four skittles down 4 points
• Five skittles down 10 points
• Six skittles down 6 points
• (*)Where we live, if 6 skittles are knocked down, it is also 0 points.

Explanation of the same game in other European regions:

Photograph/picture

The belt

Name used in other European regions:

Name of the person who explained the game: Helena Blanc Pérez, Àlex Esplugues Vidal, Gemma Sonet Guiu, Berta Treig Carranza, from Flix (12) and Soufiane Boudouf, from Vinebre (12)

Number of players: 12 people minimum

Ideal place to play it: A level square

Material: A belt or a scarf

Explanation:
In pairs, one in front of the other, a circle is formed and everybody looks towards the centre. The person who is behind has to keep his hands behind his back. The one who is on has a belt and scarf. That person chases the other one outside the circle and he can hit him with the belt or with the scarf on his bottom - you run anticlockwise.
The person who is chased, in order to avoid the belt hits, has to be in front of a couple which forms the circle. In that moment he's not chased any longer and the one who is outside this couple is the one who has to run so as not to be caught by the belt.

The one that is on can give the belt to anyone he wants from outside. That's why they have their hands behind their backs. If he does so, he has to pretend that he still has the belt so as to mislead chased person. When this person goes behind the player who has the belt he will chase now, while the one that was on will take the place that the other player has left.
It's a traditional and typical game played on St. Miquel Day in the hermitage in Vinebre. Usually people from 16 to 30 years old play this game.

Explanation of the same game in other European regions:

Photograph/picture

Tug of war

Name used in other European regions:

Name of the person who explained the game: Carla Fernández Montaña, d'Ascó (13 ) and Ester Rodríguez Esteve, from Riba-roja d'Ebre (14)

Number of players: Between 10 and 15 per team

Ideal place to play it: A flat piece of ground of around 30 metres approximately.

Material: A thick rope, 20 metres long and a scarf tied to the centre of the rope.

Explanation:
Participants make two teams. Each team is placed on one side of the rope, which is separated by a scarf tied in the middle of the rope.

Draw a line in the middle of the playing field. When the game starts the 2 teams begin to tug the rope. The strongest team has to pull the first member of the other team across the line.

It's a traditional game that you can see in Asco on 17th January, for St. Anton, and in Riba-Roja on Easter Monday. It is usually played by married men against single men or married women against single women. Sometimes men play against women.

Explanation of the same game in other European regions:

Photograph/picture

The horseshoe

Name used in other European regions:

Name of the person who explained the game: Marc Ribes Serra, from Ascó (12 ) and Zhour Mahjouba, from La Torre de l'Espanyol (12 )

Number of players: Individual or in pairs

Ideal place to play it: A square, a playground or a flat area

Material: Three or more horseshoes and an iron bar about 30 cm long

Explanation:
It's a game we've learnt at the institute. In the olden days, when there were more horses and mules, people played it more often. Now it is unusual to see people playing it.

Drive the iron bar into the ground and draw a 50-60 cm circle around it. Each player has from 3 to 5 horseshoes. From a distance of 2 m, throw the horseshoes trying to hook them around the stick, or if not, trying to get inside the circle.

Explanation of the same game in other European regions:

Photograph/picture

Ribbon race

Name used in other European regions:

Name of the person who explained the game: Ester Rodríguez Esteve, from Riba-roja d'Ebre (14 years old) i Maria Jornet Llop, from Ascó (12 years old)
Number of players: Individual

Ideal place to play it: In a street or a square

Material: Every body needs a bike and a stick which is held in your mouth. The organization will hold as many ribbons as prizes they want to give. If you play the game riding a donkey, you need a fork.

Explanation:
The objective is to try to get the maximum number of ribbons hanging on a rope in the street. The organization hangs a rope from one side to the other of the street. Ribbons of different colours are hung on the rope with a ring on the end.

When the game starts, everybody sets off on a bike with a stick in their mouth to try to catch the maximum number of ribbons. The one who gets the most is the winner. This game is played traditionally at the borough fiestas of St. Domingo in Riba-Roja.

In Ascó, it is played on 17th January , on a donkey. The player has to get the ribbon with a pitchfork.

Explanation of the same game in other European regions:

Photograph/picture

The scarf

Name used in other European regions:

Name of the person who explained the game: Anna Mur Suñé, from Flix (12)

Number of players: In teams. A maximum of 20

Ideal place to play it: A square or a pedestrian street

Material: A scarf

Explanation:
Two teams with the same number of players are separated by 20m.

Each person has a number but the opponent group doesn't know the number.

One person stays in the middle of both teams holding a scarf in his hand. Then he says one number aloud.

The player of each team with that number starts running to fetch the scarf. The objective is to fetch the scarf and go back to his place without being touched by the opponent. If he is touched, he is eliminated, if not, the opponent is the one who is eliminated.

Those who are eliminated stay next to the person who leads the game and can be saved by a partner if, when catching the scarf, they are touched and go back to their group without being touched by the opponent.

The game finishes when one of the teams is left without any player.

It's a typical summer game, played in the street, or when you go to the countryside, to the hermitage…

Explanation of the same game in other European regions:

Photograph/picture

The greasy pole

Name used in other European regions:

Name of the person who explained the game: Pau Guiu Rofes, from Flix (13)

Number of players: Individually

Ideal place to play it: Go across on the boat, in the Ebre river

Material: The organization hangs some strips on the extreme of a pole, situated horizontally, and they grease it.

Explanation:
First you have to hold a pole horizontally over a boat. Then you grease it so that it's slippery. When you have finished you tie a scarf to the end of the pole.

Everybody can participate.

The objective of this game is to get the scarf which is hung at the end of the pole.

Participants, one by one, try to go across the pole, which is slippery. This is very hard and if you fall, you fall into the river.

The one who gets the furthest scarf is the winner. The one who gets the scarf in the middle comes second. The one who gets the scarf which is the lowest comes third.

This game is also played during the main fiestas in Flix, where there are always people aged from 18-26 years old prepared to play the game, although there are also people under age.

In the main fiestas of Riba-Roja they also play it.

Explanation of the same game in other European regions:

Photograph/picture

Basket or stones race

Name used in other European regions: Cobs race (in the rest of Spain )

Name of the person who explained the game: Carla Fernández Montaña, from Ascó (13 ) and Judith Sans Serra, from Ascó (12 )

Number of players: It depends on the number of baskets. Usually 5 per race.

Ideal place to practise it: A flat ground of 15 m. approximately.

Material: At least 5 baskets and 10 river stones per basket

Explanation:
The game consists of collecting 10 stones, as fast as possible, in a row in front of the basket. The stones are separated 1m from each other.

When the game starts, each player has to run and put his stones, one by one, in his basket.

Each time, however, you can only take 1 stone and put it in the basket, and then start running again to take another one.

You can't touch the basket which is outside the starting line.

The order to start collecting stones doesn't matter. You can start with the first stone, the last one or the middle one.

The winner is the one who gets all the row of stones in front of him.

It's a traditional game that Asco has recovered and it's played on St. Anton Day, on 17th January.

Explanation of the same game in other European regions:

Photograph/picture

Hopscotch

Name used in other European regions:

Name of the person who explained the game:Anna Mur Suñé, from Flix (12) and Ricard Ribes Serra, from Ascó (12 )

Number of players: 5 maximum

Ideal place to play it: A flat square

Material: A piece of chalk and a flat stone.

Explanation:
Draw a hopscotch on the ground. In turns, each player throws a flat stone to the corresponding square. You start by the first one and you go up. The stone has to fall inside the square without touching the sidelines. Then you have to follow the hopscotch as follows: You have to go through all the squares successively, skipping the square with the stone in it, hopping, without crossing the lines and without using the other foot.

If during the way you find a square with a cross and none of the squares has a stone in it, you can't put one foot on each square. When you arrive at the last square, you turn and go back to the start. When you are at the square previous to the one that has the stone, you have to bend down, take it and go back to the start with it. If during this route the player touches the ground with both feet, crosses the line, or doesn't throw the stone well, another player will take his turn. If you do all the route, you continue with the following square until you have done all of them. The winner is the one who finishes the route first.

Explanation of the same game in other European regions:

Photograph/picture